Gunmen Kill 25 Women in Baghdad Compound Raid

Gunmen killed 25 women and wounded at least eight people Saturday when they stormed two buildings in a residential Baghdad compound reputedly used for prostitution, police and government sources said.

Police said silenced guns were used in the attack, which took place in a mainly Shiite area where 12 people were killed in a similar raid on May 22 last year.

"Twenty-five women were killed and eight people wounded, among them four men, when gunmen stormed two buildings in a residential compound in Zayouna in east Baghdad," an interior ministry official told Agence France Presse.

A senior police officer gave the same death toll but reported 11 wounded.

"Unidentified gunmen stormed building number 43 in Zayouna, killing 10 women and wounding five. They also stormed building number 44, where they killed 15 women and wounded six men," a police colonel said, speaking on condition of anonymity.